Sunday, December 18, 2011

Vicissitudo

Here is today's distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 4.218. Note the accusative plural luctūs here: griefs, plural, along with gaudia, joys, plural. It's a perpetual cycle: after grief, joy, and then after that joy, grief again, and then joy, and so on. That's why I chose the "wheel of fortune" image below to accompany this poem about life's vicissitudes.

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Welcome to the companion website for my latest book, Brevissima: 1001 Tiny Latin Poems. I hope you will enjoy browsing the site! Here is an INDEX PAGE with links to all 1001 poems. You can get a printed copy of the book from Lulu.com and/or you can download a complete PDF copy for free here. I'm also keeping an errata list here; if you notice anything I should add to the list, let me know.